Your vita is a document you will get to know well. Regardless of your
goals, you will be asked for it many times. It is a record of what you have
done and a ticket allowing you to do more.
The topic of vita development can have a negative quality. Some people fall
into vita building just for the sake of personal aggrandizement. Some
scientists focus more on the quantity of the work than its quality; more on
the notoriety of the work than its substance. But don't let these attitudes
blind you to the importance of a good record, professionally presented. Your
vita can give you access to good jobs where you can do good things; and
considering what goes into a vita can help you focus your efforts and maintain
your professional growth.
There are two aspects to a vita: doing and telling. That is, both form and
substance are important. This article will describe what kinds of things go
into a vita and how to present them.
The Sections of a Vita
Personal History
Usually the first things mentioned in a vita are items of personal history.
Who are you? Where are you from? Are you married? These are the questions
answered in this section. One good way to arrange these items is as follows:

Vita

Your Name

Date

A. Personal History

College Address:

Hanover College

Hanover, IN 47243

Phone: (812) 866-1234

Home Address:

123 St. Norbert Cross,

City, State Zip

Phone: (123) 456-78903

Birth date: August 24, 1965

Citizenship: USA

Martial Status: Single

You should line up the information in an attractive manner. Double space
between items. You may wish to leave out marital status and/or birth date.
Some feel this information is irrelevant and could be used in a discriminatory
fashion. You should not include such items as religion, hobbies, or items of
that kind. They are unnecessary and unprofessional.
Educational History
Here you simply list each post secondary school you have attended. For each
school, list your major, minor, degree (type and date), any honors you
received there, and titles of these or dissertations (and the chairs of your
advisory committees). The entries should either go from first to last or last
to first. First to last is more traditional. You may wish to put the dates
flush right so that they stand out. Here's an example:

B. Educational History

1. University of California at Los

Angeles, Los Angeles, California

Major: Psychology

Minor: Philosophy

Degree: B.A., Cum Laude

1980

Honors: California State Scholar 1976-1979

Honors Program 1977-1980

Honors Thesis:

A comprison of response prevention

and shaping in the reduction of

avoidance behavior in rats(Chairper-

son: Ima Psychologist, Ph.D.)

Professional Positions
The next section is usually professional positions. Like the schools attended,
professional positions are usually ordered sequentially (either from first to
last or vice versa). First to last is traditional.
This is the first section where you can be a little creative. You want to list
all positions you held, even if not necessarily paid. Thus, a practicum
appointment would usually fit here. Research assistantships would fit. What
does not fit here are short, one-shot experiences (e.g., giving a lecture to a
group). One- shot paid consultations may fit. Unpaid consultations would
probably fit better in a later section, such as "Professional
Activities."
For each item, list what your title was and the name and address of the
agency. The city is usually a sufficient address for this purpose if the
agency is known. You should also list the nature of the position (full-time;
half-time) and when you held it. List your duties and your supervisor. The
duties list is impor- tant, especially for more applied jobs, because it
allows you to show the fit between your background and your desired work
setting. Think of all the jobs you actually did and list them. This is often
hard to remember, which is why you should get ready for vita writing long
before you have much to put into one. Keep a file of your professional
positions and add to it as new duties are fulfilled.
Here is an example: Note the consistency of style, both within this section,
and between sections (e.g., note the flush right date).

C. Professional Positions

1. Psychology Trainee, Veteran's Ad-

ministration, Hospital, Palo Alto,

California. Full-time summer

position. 1983

Duties: Consultation to kidney dialysis

unit; group behavior therapy;

program development on a token

economy ward.

Supervisor: George Doright, Ph.D.,

Unit Psychologist

2. Research Assistant, Brown Universi-

ty, Half-time position. 1985-1986

Duties: Assist in research on priming

effects on memory. Analyze data

using SPSS-X and SAS. Program

in BASIC and PASCAL.

Supervisor: H.D. Science, Ph.D.

There are many places where you can tailor your description of your duties.
For example, if you want to make it clear that you take a cognitive
perspective, use cognitive terms to describe your work. Try to think of who
will read the document, then describe yourself honestly, but in the most
favorable light. Don't offend people needlessly. If you use philosophically
loaded words (e.g., "radical behaviorism," "mentalistic,"
"me- chanical models") to describe your work you will please only
the like-minded. This is something you should probably avoid, unless it would
be a real disaster to work with folks not completely comfortable with your
preferred manner of describing yourself.
Membership in Professional Associations
List all of them. Note whether you are a member, associate, or student member.
Here is an example:

D. Membership in Professional Associations

American Psychological Society

(Student Associate)

Society for Research in Child Development

(Student Member)

Professional Activities
This is the place where you list all the projects you started, neat things you
did, committee memberships you held (don't forget departmental committees:
they count.), in-service training programs you conducted, important guest
lectures you presented, etc. You can be creative here (but see later section
on "padding"). You can subdivide this section as needed (e.g.,
Associations and Divisions, Administrative, etc.). Persons giving lots of
workshops or colloquia may want a separate section for these. You may list
items first to last or vice versa. An example:

E. Professional Activities

Associations and Divisions

1. Member of Program Committee,

Nebraska Psychological Society, First

Annual Convention, Lincoln, December

1988.

2. President, Psi Chi, University of Ha-

waii Chapter, 1984.

Administrative

1. Students' representative to the De-

partmental Training Committee, Depart-

ment of Psychology, University of New

Mexico.

Other

1. In service training. "Measuring

change." Presented to the staff of the

Piedmont Psychology Center, June 1985.

Editorial Activities
If you go to a lot of conventions, do a good deal of research, and get to know
prominent people, you will probably be reviewing manuscripts before you get
out of graduate school. Reviewing is a critically important activity for the
file, and you should list it. If you review a manuscript sent to you, you
usually list that as "Ad Hoc Editorial Consultant." Example:

F. Editorial Activities

1. Editor, The Student Observer, a

student supplement to the APS

Observer, 1989.

2. Ad Hoc Editorial Consultant,

Psychological Science, 1989.

Grants
List the grants you have received. Some professionals include grants they had
a significant role in, even if they were not the Principal Investigator. Many
people list grants they wrote that were not funded. As a student or young
professional that is probably fine, since if you even sent one in it is a good
sign. Use your own sense in this area. Certainly a long list of "failures
to fund," if not countered by several successes, could eventually hurt
more than help. People may think you are a motivated incompetent. Here's an
example of this section:

G. Grants

1. Small Grants Division, National Insti-

tute of mental Health, #MH36998-03,

Social Skills Training for Sexual

Deviants, $10,000, 1986-1987. E.Z.

Dozit, Principal Investigator.

Papers Presented
List all the papers you presented at professional meetings. It seems to be
common to list them by year starting with the most recent and working back.
Some people number entries, but that seems to say that you are counting so it
probably is not a good idea. Some people also put colloquia here; others put
them in a separate section (e.g., in the "Professional Activities"
section). List papers in regular APA format and double space between entries.

H. Papers Presented

1986

Dozit, E.Z. (August 1986). An experi-

mental analysis of life, behavior, and

the whole universe. Paper presented

at the meeting of the American

Psychological Association, Washing-

ton, D.C.

Dozit, E.Z. (August 1986). The role of

response mediation in the formation

of prototypes. Paper presented at

the meeting of the International

Society for Psychological Research,

Lake Tahoe, NV.

Some people also list papers or talks presented to nonprofessional
audiences (e.g., the PTA, radio talk shows). In general, this seems rather
extreme, and might give an impression of padding. If you must list them,
either create a special section (e.g., "Talks Presented to
Nonprofessional Audiences") or put the most important ones in
"Professional Activities."
Publications
When you have sufficient entries, organize them by year and by type (articles,
chapters in books, books). It seems to be common to list them from the most
recent to the oldest. That way, the current work (which is usually what you
want folks to see) is seen first. List papers in regular APA format.
Do not put papers which are under submission or in preparation in this
section. It will look as though you are padding (see section below). "In
press" articles belong here. Invited articles which are in preparation
probably belong since they will definitely be published. An example of this
section:

I. Publications

a. Books

Tense, I.M. (1989). Having fun with

anxiety. New York: Wierdo

Publications.

b. Articles

1987

Tense, I.M. (1987). The relation

between anxiety and performance

is an inverted W, not a U. Per-

ceptual and Motor Skills, 112,

445-446.

Papers Currently Under Submission
In this section, list your articles that are currently under submission. List
only authors and title. It seems unnecessarily risky to say where you sent it.
If it is turned down you have to change your vita and everyone knows that it
was rejected. Listing the journal probably makes the listing more credible,
however, so there is a trade-off. Once papers are on this list, keep them
there until you give up resubmitting, or until they get accepted. When they
get accepted, they go to the publications section, and are said to be "in
press."
Projects Underway
Use this section for manuscripts in preparation and for projects that are
actually underway (e.g., experiments in progress). List as in the section on
papers currently under submission. Both this section and the previous one
(under submission) are optional. Professionals with established reputations
sometimes leave them off. Students often need these sections, however.
Established researchers sometimes list articles in preparation just to make
sure they will not forget the publication of a minor project when they update
their vita.
Statement of Professional Interests
You may want to save some work by including a brief paragraph on your
professional interests: research interests, applied interests, and teaching
interests. Many vita of established professionals contain a brief outline of
current or favorite research or other professional interests. You might want
to start off with a general statement and then conclude with a specific
listing.
Professional References
Finally, you need three to five professional references who will speak very
highly of you. Don't ask for a reference simply because the person is well
known, unless you are confident of the quality of the actual reference. Ask
the person before you include his or her name on your vita if it is OK to do
so as a professional courtesy. List and number each reference, give their
name, title, and address. Sometimes people leave this section blank, with a
line such as "References Available on Request" appearing instead.
The only advantage of this is that the best and most current references can
then be used as needed. If the relationship with a former referee becomes
strained, this would prevent their having an opportunity to speak in your
behalf. This circumstance is rare, and it is more common to list the
references.
Other General Considerations
Form and Style
This document is critical so prepare it carefully. Use a carbon ribbon or
laser printer, not a cloth ribbon; use wide margins and space in between items
and sections; lay it out in an attractive and well organized fashion; proof
the document carefully put your name at the top of each sheet. For example:

E.Z. Dozit

Vita

3

Have the original printed or xeroxed on good paper on a very good machine.
Staple each copy together.
Detail
Remember, you want to be honest, and you also want to impress. Provide
sufficient detail to do so. For example, on papers presented, give the full
reference on each. Such understatement as only listing the convention is
needlessly modest (or it may be interpreted as lazy) and does not convey the
important information. On the other hand, don't over burden the document with
detail that is unimportant. Have some psychologists read it and get their
feedback.
What Not to Put In
Don't try to overly personalize your vita--leave that for a separate letter or
an interview. It is unprofessional to include your hobbies, the name of your
dog, your high school activities, and the like. Occasionally, persons do
foolish things like putting their favorite poem on the first page of his vita.
That alone will kill any chance of many positions. Remember that if you are
qualified, there are also a dozen others who are too. The slightest little
stimulus could be reason enough to weed out your application. Poor attention
to form, detail, content, or "what not do say" could be the
stimulus.
Padding
One of the cardinal sins in vita writing is padding. Padding is defined when a
reader reacts to the vita as more form than substance ("Who is he trying
to kid?!"). Thus, it refers to an audience reaction, not a specific vita
writing behavior. The reaction is most likely when the importance or substance
of the item is not obvious. This is especially true in the professional
activities and projects underway sections. Make sure these sections are
legitimate. For example, never list umpteen projects underway if you don't
have any publications. People will never believe you even if it is true.
Instead, if you are in that situations, list the most important projects
underway. Similarly, don't list a zillion projects submitted, when you have no
publications; it may not seem fair, but remember "padding" is an
audience reaction, not a specific vita writing behavior.